


and the headlights pave the road, and we struggle towards home

by Waistcoat35



Series: they slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered [1]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: (no canon/named characters die I promise), 100 Ways to Say I Love You Writing Challenge, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Tenderness, and I still love them, i love these two, idk why I started this when I'm busy with school stuff but here we go, it's been nearly a year, so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24529876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waistcoat35/pseuds/Waistcoat35
Summary: 1 - “Pull over.  Let me drive for awhile.”
Relationships: Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis
Series: they slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772770
Comments: 15
Kudos: 80





	and the headlights pave the road, and we struggle towards home

**Author's Note:**

> Dammit this was supposed to be 100 words?? But never mind. 
> 
> As the tags said, tw for vague allusions to a family death and mention of a funeral. Sorry this one's not all fluff like my usual, but it was what I came up with for the prompt - the list for the '100 Ways To Say 'I Love You'' writing challenge is here: https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you

“Pull over. Let me drive for awhile.”

Richard shakes his head, stubborn even in heartbreak. Even though, for the last half an hour, his hands have been shaking on the wheel – not from fatigue, but the deepset effort not to crumble. The funeral was a few hours ago, and now he’s taking Thomas back to Downton, after he’d insisted on coming, on being there for him.

 _“I haven’t seen my uncle much since working at the palace,”_ he had said, _“but we got on well when I was a lad, and half the books I own were his at some point, - that makes me feel closer to him than people I’ve seen every day for years.”_ The way he had gone rigid at the admission, as if fighting to curl into himself, was what had pushed Thomas to offer – reluctant as he is to push in on a family affair, Richard will run himself to the ground helping the rest of them before he lets himself be anything other than alright, and the best person to help him is someone detached from the matter – someone he can be less than alright with.

Back to the matter at hand –

“You can’t _drive_ ,” he says, pedantic as ever even in misery (although he has pulled over), and it should be far, far more irritating than it ever has been.

“Thought you’d appreciate the offer anyway,” Thomas says airily. “And I said I could _just about_ drive, _actually_.” Richard gives the start of a snort, which he’ll count as a small victory, and fixes his gaze on him, that wonderful raising of his eyebrows in place.

“Time for your _actually_ weapon to come out, is it,” he murmurs wryly, and then in a normal voice – “so, what, you want to teach yourself to properly drive halfway between York and Downton. At _dusk_.”

Thomas shrugs. “If it helps, I’d try.”

“You really would, wouldn’t you.” It’s a realisation, not a question.There’s the barest glance of a smile now, just a neat little tuck at the corner of Richard’s mouth, and it’s enough. Thomas doesn’t need to answer, so he returns the glance from the corner of his eye, leans to the right until their shoulders press, wraps his arm around Richard until he’s nestled into Thomas’ side and he can turn his cheek into the hand on his right shoulder. Thomas feels the tears on that hand rather than seeing any, leans his head on Richard’s unoccupied shoulder and takes some solace in the meagre comfort he’s provided. As if reading his mind, Richard breaks off between slight sniffles to speak.

“Whatever you think this means, it means a lot more.”

“Is that so?”

“Course it is, silly boy. Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did take the thing about Thomas being a bit shit at driving ("I can drive - just about," are his canon words, I believe) and make it a Thing.


End file.
